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Izumi Curtis is the powerful alchemist who took on the eager Elric brothers as students shortly after their mother's passing. The red tattoo on her chest is the same insignia that appears on Edward's coat and the left shoulder of Alphonse's armor. The insignia is passed on from teacher to student as Dante, Izumi's alchemy teacher, also displayed it. The symbol, the Flamel, a snake fixed on a cross, is the opposite of the Ouroboros worn by the Homunculi. It represents a fixation on the volatile principle in alchemy as opposed to the endless cycle represented by Ouroboros. The insignia is sometimes referred to as a flamel, in tribute to the famous alchemist Nicholas Flamel, and was one of the alchemical symbols placed on his tomb.
Izumi is an extremely strong woman, both emotionally and physically: along with her talent for alchemy, Izumi is also an accomplished martial artist. The Elric brothers are taught with her own unique form of sparring combined with philosophy to gain a fuller understanding of alchemy. Unfortunately, she will snap at anyone at any given time, making her downright scary. She is married to Sieg Curtis, a husky and well-built butcher of few words. Like many others in the series, she despises the military and particularly State Alchemists, so when she encounters Edward "Fullmetal Alchemist" Elric again, she scolds (beats) him for his becoming a "dog of the military." Alphonse is scolded as well for helping. Like Edward, Izumi is capable of alchemy without a transmutation circle. Izumi gained this ability from seeing the inside of the mysterious "Gate" while attempting to revive her stillborn son with alchemy. This attempt not only created the Homunculus, Wrath, but cost Izumi all the organs in her abdominopelvic cavity (the implication being that it is her womb, the symbol of her connection to her stillborn son, and all the organs surrounding it). Her incredible strength of will allowed her to miraculously survive, with her remaining organs picking up the slack. Her body is failing, which leaves her physically weak and drained, and causes her to cough up blood at inopportune moments, often while attempting a transmutation. She dies between the series' end and Conqueror of Shamballa, only making a cameo as a spirit to receive Wrath at the Gate when he sacrifices himself to open a physical gateway to the Other World for Al. How exactly her spirit lingered in the gateway after death for so long is left unexplained, but perhaps it is thanks to the same strength of spirit that allowed her to survive the failed attempt to resurrect her child.
In the manga, Izumi takes Edward and Alphonse Elric as her apprentices in alchemy, and has a personality just like her counterpart in the anime. However, she suffers tremendous guilt believing that she had killed her son twice, once at birth, and once on the transmutation circle (Remember that human transmutation in original  Manga doesn't result in Homunculi, but a corpse-like being which have no connection at all with the human that alchemist intended to transmute). Later, Edward learns that revival of the dead is impossible, and informs Izumi that what she created on the trasmutation circle could not have been her son. Izumi, after verifying this fact, is very grateful to Edward for relieving her of the guilt of her son's death.
The fact that Izumi opened the Gate is of great interest to King Bradley, as it means that she is a qualified "human sacrifice" like Edward and Alphonse. However, she isn't a State Alchemist and is therefore beyond the Homunculi's control. It is unknown as to whether Father and the Homunculi will take any action regarding Izumi in the future.
According to the Gaiden "The Tales of Master" her name before she married was Izumi Harnet. When she was 18, she traveled to the north of Amestris to became an apperentice of famous alchemist Silver Steiner. However, because Silver Steiner had died some time ago, she met with his elder brother (who was famous for his Hand fighting technique) Gold Steiner. Izumi received a test for appenticeship, which intailed surviving in the Briggs mountain for one month with only a knife. During this time, she discovered the philosophy of "One is All, All is One", which she later passed on to the Elrics brothers.
Note: It has been speculated by fans as to whether or not Izumi has dreadlocks, but they have been confirmed to be small "micro-braids."
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